New Style

*I'm ignoring the hiatus from the blog world to write this as if that didn't happen

I've decided that I'm only going to write about food and alcohol and any establishment associated with the two. My favorite thing to do in Chile is find a new anything: new pikada, new wine store, new restaurant or my new favorite fruit and veggie stand. Anyone who knows me knows that I love good food and good wine and will go to great lengths to have it.

Unfortunately, I'm so in love with my neighborhood that it's really hard to get me to leave it. There are tons of restaurants I want to try or have tried and loved, but I haven't and won't go to them anymore because it means taking a taxi or the metro. To remedy this problem, last Thursday my boyfriend suggested we just head out on foot and eat at the first place that looked good--such a good idea and an excellent attempt to deal with my being picky since we could stay close to home and walk around my favorite place in Santiago.

So, we headed towards the patronato/bellavista area looking for a hidden gem. I started to lose hope quickly as we passed empty restaurant after empty restaurant. I wanted to head back and just get a pizza and a great bottle of wine, but Italo was determined to find a great new place.

As we got closer to bellavista, we started dreaming of yummy peruvian food which was when we noticed the El Otro Sito sign. We checked out the menu and everything looked as amazing as everyone's described it, but it wasn't a night to shell out 10.000 clp an entree and then worry about the wine so out of starvation we opted for the meat restaurant next door called Vaquita Sabrosa.

Walking up the stairs, I sort of regretted our snap decision to eat there because there were noticeable stains on the floor and all of the chairs. And when I tried the complementary cheese empanada that came in the bread basket, I almost had to spit it out because it had an unidentified gritty substance all over it. Clearly, they had been sitting out for hours because they were cold and stale.

To save the moment, we rushed to order a familiar bottle of Santa Ema Cabernet Savignon and checked out the menu. Granted, a lot of items on the menu were cheaper than at restaurants like Las Vacas Gordass, what we ended up getting was just about the same price--beef medallions wrapped with bacon for 4990 clp a plate. To go with it, two orders of french fries and a house salad (yup, we're chanchos).

Our food came quickly and it looked a lot better than I thought it would after the empanadas. The french fries were delicious! They were nice and crispy which is hard to find I think. The meat was just as good as other more famous meat restaurants, but I wasn't blown away by it. Bacon can mask a lot of things and make anything taste delicious, but I still think it could have been better. And the salad we ordered was a joke. The vegetables looked and tasted like they had been sitting out all day so I was really disappointed since I love a great salad.

We finished up and had those ridiculous bajativos (they were served with kids' straws!!) and paid the 22.000 clp we owed. We had 2 main dishes, 3 sides and a bottle of wine so that's not too bad, but it's a little steep considering it's ust an OK restaurant.

All in all, I'll never go back there. There's another meat restaurant nearby that's really touristy, but has great salads, free and delicious empanadas and a much better wine list (I think it's called Los Socios) so I'd definitely opt for that and take the clean seats as a bonus :)

Santiago's toll on my feet

My feet are not very pretty in general. Unfortunately, I inherited my dad's feet which not only means two ugly big toes, but foot problems as well. Then, I didn't help things by breaking both feet (at different times) so badly I had to get pins put in in them to correct the break.

So, the point is that my not so attractive feet also hurt me a lot because I refuse to wear tennis shoes around all the time. I LOVE cute flats and sandals and wedges (although I broke my foot wearing wedges so I seldom take them out of my closet here on these sidewalks), but since I walk so much in Santiago, I am constantly comparing the cuteness to comfort ratio before I walk out the door and I always carry backup band-aids just incase.

I thought I was in heaven when I found a pair of adorable Puma flats that were both comfy and stylish, but they turned out to offer zero support and I felt every uneven step in the city. Walking down Paris or Londres near my apartment just killed me. So, lately I've opted for a newer pair of flip flops, but my feet get totally destroyed in them and I get very grossed out when I step in unidentified liquid knowing it hasn't rained in forever. I went to get a pedicure once and the woman spent the entire time scolding me about neglecting my feet when I'm actually very good at giving them extra care in the summertime--they just suck!!

So now after a day of opting for cute flats even though I knew I had a lot of walking ahead of me, I'm suffering enough that it prompted me to dedicate an entire post to my feet woes! I'll use better judgement tomorrow.

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sidenote: I'm doing pretty well on my resolutions so far. I'm farther along in Cider House Rules and loving it of course, I've been good on my diet except for Saturday at our asado (yummmm choripan!), and my man and I have a movie date tonight with our usual snuck-in wine and home-popped garlic popcorn.